POLITICS: Feds’ $4.6B furniture splurge is one more outrageous abuse of taxpayer funds

One thing Americans can be sure of: At any given time, somewhere out there, a government decision-maker is finding new and inventive ways of flushing your hard-earned cash.

The latest: Government watchdog OpenTheBooks found that the feds spent an eye-popping $4.6 billion on new furniture and decorations for government buildings since October 2020, even though only half the federal workforce was consistently showing up for work in person as of last year.

In 2023, the Government Accountability Office found that 17 of 24 federal agencies used 25% or less of their headquarters’ buildings.

So the feds blew billions in taxpayer cash on art that almost no one will look at and furniture that almost no one will use.

It’s always easy to spend other people’s money.

Some of the worst splurges:

• $250,000 worth of Herman Miller chairs for the US Agency for International Development offices in Mozambique.

• $237,960 for 30 solar-powered picnic tables for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

• $1.4 million on art and drawings for embassies.
• $39,000 for new conference tables for The Nancy Pelosi Federal Building in San Francisco.

• $117,250 on 40 Ethan Allen recliners for the US embassy in Pakistan — or about $2,931 each. (And we doubt they got a volume discount.)

In 2022, 37% of Americans reported they wouldn’t be able to scrounge together an extra $400 in an emergency, so it’s fair to assume most middle-class families couldn’t afford even one exorbitantly priced Ethan Allen chair, yet Uncle Sam decided an embassy in Islamabad should be decked out with dozens of them.

Has no one in the federal government ever heard of Ikea?

Beyond the specific waste here is what it says about the feds’ institutional allergy to anything approaching fiscal responsibility.

Sure, offices need functional chairs, and the case can be made for the occasional painting to spruce up a waiting room.

But designer recliners, solar-powered picnic tables (powered for what, exactly?) and $200,000 modern abstract paintings aren’t remotely necessary for the business of running the country.

But necessity doesn’t matter if you see the taxpayers as a bottomless piggy bank.

Belt-tightening? Unheard of. Hunting for a deal? That’s for plebs. Searching out the most economical option? Not my job.

Only the most luxurious, high-end, name-brand items will do for the rear ends of our precious public employees. (The ones who bother showing up for work, anyway.)

No wonder the vast majority of Americans — 76%, according to a February Harvard-Harris poll — support DOGE’s efforts to slash waste.

The feds’ furniture splurge is more proof that there’s no limit to the outrageous abuse of taxpayer dollars; it’s mismanagement and fiscal folly all the way down.